In an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid vehicle (HV), an electric storage system (ESS) and the like, a high-capacity battery pack is loaded.
The high-capacity battery pack has a multi-module structure where a battery module including a plurality of unit cells is connected in series and/or in parallel to one another.
In the multi-module structure, each battery module is operably coupled with a battery management module that is a type of control device capable of performing computing operations.
In the related art, the battery management module is called a battery management system (BMS). BMS is in charge of measuring electrical characteristic values such as the voltage/current/temperature and the like of a unit cell, controlling charge/discharge, controlling equalization of voltage, and estimating a state of charge (SOC) and a state of health (SOH), etc.
When the high-capacity battery pack has a multi-module structure, the plurality of battery management modules may be categorized into modules having different roles: a master module, and slave modules that are subordinate to the master module.
The master module is connected to each slave module such that it may communicate with the slave module, and takes the role of monitoring and controlling each slave module. Further, the master module transmits, to an external integrated control device, information such as operational characteristics values such as the voltage, current, temperature and the like, and a state of charge and the like collected from each slave module. Further, when a safety problem occurs in a certain battery module, the master module controls the corresponding slave module, thereby restricting usage of the battery module according to a predetermined manual. Further, the master module updates a control algorithm of the slave modules, and distributes a target value of a parameter subject to control or restriction.
Meanwhile, in order for the master module to communicate with each slave module, each module must be allocated with a unique communication ID. A communication ID is a type of identification information for distinguishing between a master module and a slave module in a communication network.
Conventional methods used for allocating a communication ID of a battery management module either store ID information in a separate circuit or enable the master module to generate a communication ID for each slave module based on a complicated software algorithm and distribute the generated communication ID to each slave module through a communication network.
However, the former method has a disadvantage that a separate circuit has to be designed for the communication ID allocation, and that once the communication ID is allocated, it cannot be easily changed.
Further, the latter method has a disadvantage that it requires a complicated software algorithm, and that in case of replacing a slave module, the entire system must be initiated once again in order to reset the communication ID.
Therefore, in the technical field of the present disclosure, an improved communication ID allocation method is required where allocating a communication ID is simple, and where a communication ID can be re-allocated even without stopping the system in case of replacing the slave module.